How long do you hang your meat?

[schilly101]

how long do you guys or your butchers hang your meat for before cutting and wrapping? ive heard of people hanging it for 2 weeks but ive normaly only ever hung it for 3-5 days to a week max. is there realy any diffrence? or right or wrong way? ive heard the longer you hang it the dryer it gets on the outside and the more waste you get when cutting and wrapping..is there any truth to this?

* now with a poll*

[longwalk]

I will hang a deer no more than three days. Last couple of years it has been only overnight before I cut and wrapped it. Meat has been fine.

[tomahawk]

Depends on the age and toughness of the animal when sampled. Older or tougher hangs longer if there is good conditions to keep the meat in cold.

[Brambles]

Depends on the temperature your hanging at.

[bob the tomato]

moose hind quarters 2 weeks
front quarters mostly grind em so no hanging necessary
deer fronts same, rears 4-5 days to tender up
with hanging there definitely is more waste on the outside if you re-skin it, which i do
hanging also makes wild flavors stronger, which is why i don't hang deer very long
I also have access to a cooler so the temp is a steady 33F

[anglo-saxon]

Bear goes in the freezer for 30 days before processing.

[open-sights]

Depends on the temperature your hanging at.
100% agreed

[swamper]

You don't have to hang more than overnight, but it is a good idea to freeze if for 30 days to kill any parasites that may be in the meat. Our local sausage maker won't accept bear meat unless it has been frozen for at least 30 days.

[RayHill]

You don't age wild game meat, it isn't beef. Cut it up and put it in the freezer right away.

[squamishhunter]

I read freezing bear only kills one of 20 potential worm/ virus strains. Only way to be 100% is cooking properly.

[hunter1993ap]

You don't age wild game meat, it isn't beef. Cut it up and put it in the freezer right away.

i dissagree, if you dont want boot leather hang it for a while. i have tried peoples elk and moose that has been cut up right away and it is tough! we have done a lot of game cutting and sampling while the animals are hanging and the longer it hangs the more tender it gets. i havnt noticed that the meat gets more wild the longer you hang it?

[Shooter]

Depending how tired I am usually 1-3 days... But it makes no difference.

[schilly101]

it seems that there are many diffrent ideas on how long meat should hang...im wondering if there is no right answer to this question and that maybee every animal is diffrent. or that it makes no real diffrence? i have never noticed a diffrence myself, if i get a deer, elk, or moose back from the butcher after a week give or take. but maybee them old rutting stinky bucks that ive heard about that arnt worth doing anything more than hamburger and sausage with...maybee they are full rut deer that have hung for 2 weeks at the butchers with fat on them and have absorbed some of the smell? i have shot rutting deer before many times and always has it tasted fine to me but maybee its because they havent hung for long before being cut up and frozen?

[hunter1993ap]

it seems that there are many diffrent ideas on how long meat should hang...im wondering if there is no right answer to this question and that maybee every animal is diffrent. or that it makes no real diffrence? i have never noticed a diffrence myself, if i get a deer, elk, or moose back from the butcher after a week give or take. but maybee them old rutting stinky bucks that ive heard about that arnt worth doing anything more than hamburger and sausage with...maybee they are full rut deer that have hung for 2 weeks at the butchers with fat on them and have absorbed some of the smell? i have shot rutting deer before many times and always has it tasted fine to me but maybee its because they havent hung for long before being cut up and frozen?

my dad was a butcher for quite a few years and we have cut a lot of game. even really stinky mule deer bucks taste fine if you are careful when field dressing and preparing. i very rarely taste gamey meat from any of our animals. i cant say the same for other peoples animals we have had. we hang all our meat until it is tender or needs cutting because of the temp. all our hamburger is put through the grinder the day we shoot it or the day after so there is no trimming. we normaly hang between 5-12 days depending on things i have said earlier. after reading smithers post i realize we cut our animals very similar.

[Smithers]

As a meat cutter, we get asked this question countless times. After you shoot an animal and cool the quarters rigamortis sets in. If you cut an animal while the meat is still in rigamortis it will be tougher than meat without rigamortis. When the meat is hanging, the fibers begin to break down, "unsetting" the rigamortis. Depending on the size of the game it takes 5-7 day for rigamortis to unset (5days for deer, 7 or more for moose and larger ungulates.)
After this, the fibers holding muscles continue to break down, making the meat more tender. 80% of the aging/tendering will occur in the 7-14 day range. After this, the more you age the meat the more tenderize it but it will also dry out more which is not worth the tradeoff in my opinion (ill take the 80% tender and 30# more meat over hanging to end up cutting off more). With deer sized game your times will be shorter but follow the same general idea.
This is in ideal hanging conditions of between 1-4degrees celsius. the warmer it is the faster it will age but also the faster bacteria will grow and meat will spoil, not worth it. If the animal was shot in adverse conditions (dies in a swamp/lake, stays wet and doesn't dry out) the meat may spoil quicker as well.
The bottom line is that every animal may be different so keep an eye on it and if its going to turn, cut it, but if you can follow the guidelines i wrote earlier the more enjoyable i think you will find your game.

[Bugsbunny]

That is right Ray! Cut up your deer and put it in the freezer right away, if you get back late not a big deal to let it hang over night the sooner you put it in the freezer the better, Moose, Elk and beef are different, they can hang 4 or 5 days. And another thing about hunters cutting the neck to let it bleed? That is not true Don't make a dfference ever, in the taste, except you might waste a good neck mount.

[schilly101]

interesting good to hear what everybody is saying! would like to see some more votes go up for curiousity sake altho i guess there are exceptions depending on secomstances.

[300H&H]

How long do I hang my meat ?

Well, the smart a$$ answer would be....until the wife tells me to do up my zipper !

But the real answer is 3-5 days but it depends on how busy the butcher is until he gets to it.

Some times 7-10 days if he is swamped.

[one-shot-wonder]

When an animal is harvested in the early season and hanging temps are not ideal, I prefer to wet-age. I do this after vacuum sealing the cuts and place in the garage fridge for a few extra days to age with no moisture loss. Grinding takes place within a day or two of the kill.

[huntwriter]

Shot a whitetail deer doe this morning at 7:30 am was at home by 8:00 am and by 12:00 all the meat was cut, wrapped and in the freezer. Most of the time I cut the deer the same day I killed it. Food science has proven time and again that, unlike beef, here is no benefit whatsoever in aging game meat.

[hunter1993ap]

Shot a whitetail deer doe this morning at 7:30 am was at home by 8:00 am and by 12:00 all the meat was cut, wrapped and in the freezer. Most of the time I cut the deer the same day I killed it. Food science has proven time and again that, unlike beef, here is no benefit whatsoever in aging game meat.

this just doesnt make sense to me.

[huntwriter]

i have tried peoples elk and moose that has been cut up right away and it is tough!
Meat toughness comes from 99% from how it is cooked. Unfortunately most hunters do not know how to cook wild game meat. The longer you cook it the tougher it gets. I cut, wrap and freeze the majority of my deer within 24 hours of killing them and we have never eaten any though venison.

[Gateholio]

Good answer from Smithers.

Anyone who has properly hung and aged wild meat and cut off a chunk to sample every day or 3 can tell the difference between eating it the day it was killed and 10 or so days later. This is evident even in small animals like rabbit or grouse, the difference between eating them that day and 2 days later.

[Jagermeister]

I remember a time when one ardent pheasant hunter would hang his bounty by the neck and wait until the body dropped off. He said it was the way they did partridge in the UK. I thought the meat would be quite green by then, but, each to his own.
Ideally, Smither's post would be the correct way, however, how many people have a home facility to hang meat at a constant temperature of 1 to 4°C? Not many . And if you harvest your animal in warm conditions like we have had for the most part of our hunting season this year, then you will want to be processing it as quickly as you can.

[MOOSE MILK]

This year we boned out my moose on the spot, packed it out on horse the next day then on the following day I helped a butcher cut and wrap. This was a large mature 51" bull and I thought it would be tough but it is the best tasting and most tender moose that I have taken so far. Up till now we have always hung the meat for as long as the butcher would let it hang. Depending on how busy he was at the time it could hang for up to two weeks.

[The Dude]

Deer-sized animals, 5-7 days
Elk and moose sized, 7-10

We have a mobile cooler in camp to chill the meat quickly, and a walk-in cooler at the shop, kept at 2 Celcius

[Gateholio]

Good point about the average guy not having a cooler to hang meat. If that is the case, then you must vary your times to compensate. Warm and humid is not good. It's not difficult to just keep an eye on things and process when ready.

[parkerhale308]

Good answer from Smithers!
We have our own cooler and process all of our own game animals every year and have done so for many years. I can tell you from personal experience that the longer you hang the meat (without spoiling) the more tender it is. We hang a young moose 7-10 days and a large bull moose or elk 10-14 days and always at 2 deg c. The time from animal down to in the cooler quartered is critical (guts out, hide off and quartered to cool quicker) Between the few guys that we hunt with we average 4 or 5 animals per year. (this year so far 2 elk and 1 moose)

[Ltbullken]

Hanging too long dries meat and reduces volume. But, core temperature needs to be cooled - according to every meat cutter whoese ever handled my game - before cutting. I've done that ever since and results are always good. My animals tend to hang about 3 - 5 days as that is about as long as it has taken to get the meat cutter set up to come over to my garage!

[Gateholio]

Anyone that wants to prove to themselves the benefits of aging can easily do it. Just put a chunk of meat ( like the backstrap) in your fridge. Every 3 days carve off some and cook it in the same way. You will see inprovement in tenderness. The difference may be small (like a young doe) or large (a big bull moose) but it will be there.

[Ltbullken]

I remember a time when one ardent pheasant hunter would hang his bounty by the neck and wait until the body dropped off. He said it was the way they did partridge in the UK. I thought the meat would be quite green by then, but, each to his own.


When I was in the Army we called Brits... "s*it eaters".... now you know why! *where is the 'stir-the-pot' icon?* :wink: Sorry Tack!

[The Hermit]

I can hang my meat longer now that I have Gold Bond!

Since most of the hunting I get to do is in relatively warm temps I usually process in 1 - 3 days. One of my hunting partners hangs his with the hide on... he swears by it but I don't buy it... hide off to cool it down as fast as possible.

[Gateholio]

Here is a pretty good article about why you don't want to butcher within 24 hours, while rigor mortis is still in effect.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/other/recipes/2006/01/deer-hang-time




I used to have several great books about the science of food and cooking. Although they were pretty dry reading, they did answer many questions when you took the time to reference them. Partcular to this thread, there was a series of microscopic photos of animal muscle from shortly after slaughter and during the rigor process and then after the rigor was gone. Basically the meat fibers looked like this in rigor:

//////////

After relaxed for a few hours it was like this

/ / / / / /

and after 24 hours

/.. /.. /.. /.. /.. /

And then 36 hours

/...../...... /.... /.....


You get the idea, I hope. Bottom line is that cutting up an animal while still in rigor is not optimal. Let it hang in quarters for at least a couple of days, longer if possible. Sometimes you just need to cut up the animal right away, but even if you have to bone out animals to fit in your backpack, you should try to keep the meat in as large pieces a possible.

[Caveman]

I can hang my meat longer now that I have Gold Bond!

Since most of the hunting I get to do is in relatively warm temps I usually process in 1 - 3 days. One of my hunting partners hangs his with the hide on... he swears by itbut I don't buy it... hide off to cool it down as fast as possible.

i've done the same for many years, never an issue. The cooling process may be slowed somewhat, but skinning it just before cutting after it has hung for days is much nicer, since you don't have the dried layered formed. The hide and hair also insulates against the outside temps when needed.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c247/cavemn94/scan0002-3.jpg

This was for 7 days with temperatures from -3 over night to 22 during the day. A smudge fire to keep the bugs off during the day, before sundown

[sherpa-Al]

I hang a big old Bull Moose until the hind's are almost touching the floor, a younger Bull about a foot off, this usually takes 12-14 days in cool temps, warmer obviously is less hook time. Haven't had a tough, gamey steak yet.

Al

[Hunter22]

then what do you do? refreeze it after me makes it into sausage. I ask becuase I have a small bear in the freezer that hung for two days and then I ground it up as soon as I got home and froze it in smaller batches. Now what to do with it? I am in langley, who do you take it to?

[Brambles]

If you want sausage made just take the frozen meat to the butcher and he'll take it from there.

[Ron.C]

Interesting thread with lots of opinions.

Like most, I prefer to hang deer for several days before cutting. Obviously, you may want to hang larger animals longer.
One point I would like to make is hanging meat in camp. The cutter we used this year had to throw two bull elk away in less then a week becuase the guys that brought them in hung them too long in temps that were obvioulsy too warm and just didn't get them cooled fast enough. Not sure if they were trying to age it or were just to lazy to get it into a cooler environment. In any case, we saw one of these elk in the cooler and it was gross. Complete waste.

So I guess if you are going to hang/age meat in camp or wherever it is, do it right.

[Longbranch]

If weather holds up to a week maybe (with hide off). Have been told as game meat is very lean it doesnt need to be aged as long as beef anyway. I dunno. On my September-October hunts it's usually to damn warm to leave hanging very long anyway.
Geoff

[Livewire322]

I hung my 2 point overnight this year and butchered it. It's been delicious not gammie at all

[jtred]

I cut and wrap as soon as I have time. Same day or next day always and especially if it is warmer than 5-6 Celsius. I see no need to age wild game, it already has great flavour and I generally only shoot younger bucks, does, or cows so tenderness is never an issue.

[anglo-saxon]

Why do you freeze it for 30 days?

30 days at -10C will kill the trichinella larvae.

[Gateholio]

30 days at -10C will kill the trichinella larvae.

Not the trich that may be present in bears. Only way to ensure that it is killed is by thorough cooking